The Blog

Jan 25, 2008

Bye Bye, CDs and Vinyl

I remember once thinking that CDs were such an awesome medium for music: instantaneous random access, high sound quality, shiny and cool looking.

Well, I just ripped my last CD in to iTunes. It's taken me the best part of three weeks to get my entire catalog of 300+ CDs ripped in the highest AAC quality available, and the CDs and their jewel cases will be going in to the closet under the stairs - probably forever. Leopard has secured my digital collection to my Time Machine backup, and I can take my entire 40 GB collection on my iPod with room to spare for my favorite ripped DVDs and TV shows.

I can't remember the last time I bought a CD. I get most of my stuff either directly off of iTunes, only going to other sites when I can't find the track I want on iTunes. I also hit up Play It Tonight and Juno pretty frequently for digital downloads and/or vinyl, but the vinyl only stays around long enough for me to rip it to digital with my iMic before it gets put away.

Digital distribution has changed everything. I can't wait until my TV shows and movies are all 100% digital on-demand and pay-per-view. Cable is such a waste of money, and the forced advertising model of TV is from a bygone era. I won't miss it when it's gone. Apple is almost there with the latest AppleTV, but I think it will take one or two more revisions (plus plenty more content) before the 100% digital distribution thing really takes off the way DVD and other consumer formats have.